And So It Begins . . . .

These past couple of weeks have brought some big changes at The Raptor Center.  Because of your support, we were able to raise the funds to begin our new construction of the Douglas Dayton Education Wing and outdoor bird housing.  Before the construction, however, we do have to tear down the old structures.

Where will the birds be during this time?  Half of our education winged ambassadors have been transferred to housing on the St Paul campus that was renovated thanks to our volunteers.  The birds have settled in well.  Some of the education birds will stay at The Raptor Center as they will still be part of our off-site programming efforts while we are in this transitional phase.  They are safely away from the noise and activity of destruction of our old bird housing. 

Our clinic patient birds remain in their usual areas; it is very quiet in the area of the building in which they are housed.  Traditionally, prior to release, the wild birds who are being reconditioned for release are housed outside.  Due to the destruction of this outdoor housing, they are now in several managed locations, and our staff and volunteers are continuing to oversee their care and treatment.

Yesterday and today the destruction of the old rehabilitation bird pens began!  We are happy to share some photos with you.  We were also pleased to note that all of the old building materials will be recycled!

We will continue to keep you updated on the progress!

This photo was taken from our loading dock; it shows the back
of our outdoor pens.

It did not take long for quite a bit of the housing to be torn down!

This photo was taken from a stairway in TRC that overlooks
the roofing of the outdoor bird housing.

Even though it was raining, the old housing was torn down quickly!

This is another angle of the outdoor housing, taken from another
stairway in TRC.